An Analysis Of Effects Of Comprehensive Psychotherapy Intervention On Depressive Symptoms Of Elderly Living Alone

[Objective] To investigate the depressive symptoms of the elderly living alone in Shimen Road No.2, Shanghai, and to explore the role of comprehensive psychotherapy intervention in relieving depressive symptoms.[Methods] Sixty-four elderly people living alone in Shimen Road No.2aged80and over were randomly selected for survey and were assessed with SDS (Self-rating Depression Scale). According to the random number table theory, the elderly were allocated into intervention group and control group with32persons for each group. Comprehensive psychotherapy intervention was conducted in the intervention group for half a year,including home visit, psychological counseling, centralized instruction and frequent contact with families while routine health management was implemented in the control group. Half a year later, the survey and assessment with SDS were conducted again to investigate the role of comprehensive psychotherapy intervention in relieving depressive symptom of elderly living alone.[Results] The slightly, moderately and severely depressed patients accounted for40.6%,15.6%and0%, respectively. Before intervention, the SDS score were similar between the intervention group and control group (P>0.05). After comprehensive psychotherapy intervention for half a year, mean SDS score in the intervention group dropped from55.0to40.9. There were no elderly people with moderate depression and the proportion of slightly depressed people decreased from40.6%to16.7%. On the other hand, mean SDS score of the control group rose slightly from54.7to56.5. The proportion of slightly depressed people remained stable but the moderately depressed patients climbed up from15.6%to29%. SDS scores of the intervention group were lower than those of pre-intervention and those of the control group post-intervention.[Conclusion]Comprehensive psychotherapy intervention had an apparent and positive effect on improving depression of elderly living alone while the elderly under routine health management turned out to manifest slightly increased depression.The community medical institutions should place more emphasis on the comprehensive psychotherapy intervention to those elderly people who live alone.